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Actually, I believe that everyone should join in the celebration. The turning of the wheel of the year affects everyone and so everyone should feel free to celebrate the shortest night of the year.
The problems come when that celebration becomes a disgusting free-for-all. That's when certain sections of those in attendance prove they can't be trusted, and that is when people start looking for ways to prevent the untrustworthy sections from causing more harm.
Nobody should have to tolerate the desecration of part of our nation's heritage - even if you can't see the religious significance, you must be able to see that the site is part of Britain's history. It has been nominated as one of the new 7 Wonders of the World, for goodness sake!
I know, let's go to the Kabba and throw up all over it. Or how about a little graffiti in the Pyramids? Let's go smoke a little pot in St Paul's Cathedral, or maybe go pee in the Ganges? If you don't want to travel too far, just go to your local church and eat dinner off the altar.
That's sarcasm, in case I've given any daft people any ideas. All anyone is really hoping for is a little common sense. And maybe some better-positioned rubbish bins.
Yes, sacred cows often make the best hamburgers (for the record, I'm vegetarian!), but just because a site has no religious significance to you personally doesn't mean that you shouldn't treat it with respect.
If anyone would like to learn about the religious significance of Stonehenge, I have taken some time to dig through Google and have found a couple of easy-to-understand sites. Education is usually the best way to fight ignorance...
Stonehenge.co.uk - Ceremonial Use.
Stonehenge - Wikipedia - in particular: "Stonehenge is a place of pilgrimage for neo-druids and those following pagan or neo-pagan beliefs. The midsummer sunrise began attracting modern visitors in 1870s, with the first record of recreated Druidic practices dating to 1905 when the Ancient Order of Druids enacted a ceremony."
Earth Mysteries: Stonehenge and the Druids. A college student's essay. I must say, the ceremonies shown in some of those photos look a lot more peaceful than the near-riot I experienced this year.
And of course, there's a lot of theory about Stonehenge being the equivalent of a giant sundial, designed to tell people when the nights started getting shorter (you can imagine how vital this was in an age before clocks and calendars with half-naked bimbos on them)! This would have made Stonehenge a vital site in the telling of the year, and it is probable that the altar (yes, that was the big stone that some folks were jumping up and down on) was used for sacrifices, because that was just the way things were done back then. Christians used to do it too, y'know, just read the Bible!
And when the stones have been closed to the public for good, we'll know which people to blame, won't we?
Love and light,
Aeryn
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road